Christmas came a few days early for car firm Inchcape. It accelerated amid news that it had acquired the rights to distribute Subaru cars and Hino lorries across South America for £234million.

Shares at the company soared following revelations that the deal, which will see the company take over Indumotora's business to distribute Subaru cars in Chile, Columbia, Argentina and Peru and Hino trucks in Colombia and Chile, will add an additional £382million to its full-year forecast revenue.

Inchcape chief executive Stefan Bomhard said: 'This is the largest acquisition of distribution by Inchcape in the last 20 years and it's the largest acquisition by Inchcape in the last ten years outright. It's a very significant step for the company.'

Distribution deal: Inchcape has acquired the rights to distribute Subaru cars and Hino lorries across South America for £234m

The firm already dominates the market for Subaru cars in Australia and New Zealand, and the Hino is the market-leading truck in Asia.

The company was among the best performers on the FTSE 350 and shares jumped 7.8 per cent, or 50p to 692p.

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Asbestos services company Cape has managed to secure an extra five years on its contract with EDF Energy, a welcome boost for the firm, which has been plagued by lawsuits stemming from its old factory in Barking.

Under the new contract, Cape will provide access, insulation and asbestos services until 2022 to support EDF Energy's coal and gas business in various locations, including its Nottinghamshire coal power station and its gas storage facilities in Cheshire.

Dan Slater, an analyst at Arden Partners, said: 'As the UK is Cape's core region, it's helpful for the company to see this reinforced at a time when we know its North Sea business is coming under ongoing margin pressure.'

STOCK WATCH - HSS

Tool firm HSS Hire has asked shareholders to help it raise £13million in a bid to keep its transformation costs under control.

The company, which has issued a string of profit warnings this year, placed more than 15.4m shares at 83.9p to help fund its ongoing upgrade plan.

HSS has been setting up a 190,000sq ft central distribution hub near Oxford, but last month revealed improvements were taking longer than expected.

It has spent £12.5million on reshaping the business already this year.

Shares fell 1.2 per cent, or 1p to 83p.

Cape, which earlier this year said it expects full-year results to be slightly ahead of forecasts despite the challenging oilfield industry, has struggled to see its performance reflected in the market.

In November, shares at the company sank to their lowest levels in seven and a half years after it warned it might have to pay out to insurers seeking to recoup money lost from asbestos cases dating back to the 1950s and 1960s.

The company set up a compensation scheme in 2006 for workers who suffered from asbestos-related diseases connected with its factory.

It said it believed the lawsuit, which begins in January 16, could have an 'adverse impact' on its business.

The company also said its operation in the Middle East has been hit by deferred spending decisions by clients.

However, shares at the company edged up slightly following yesterday's festive update, increasing 0.35 per cent, or 0.5p to 144.5p.

The FTSE 100 finished up 0.3 per cent, or 22.26p to 7063.68p.

An analyst upgrade was enough to spur rumours of a takeover at ITV. The broadcaster's shares were up 1.9 per cent, or 3.8p to 203.8p after analysts at Macquarie raised its rating to outperform from neutral.

Speculation that Liberty, ITV's largest shareholder, will launch a full bid has been rife after 21st Century Fox's £18.5billion takeover battle for Sky.

Analysts at Macquarie suggested that if a bid comes, it will likely be at around 300p, valuing ITV at £12billion.

The deal had fallen through because the Malaysian firm failed to secure enough support from shareholders.

MP Evans said it 'welcomes the rejection by shareholders' because it thought Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad had substantially undervalued the company.

Shares were up 30.6 per cent, or 150p to 640p after closing down 17 per cent on Wednesday.

The chief technology officer of Aim-listed Satellite Solutions Worldwide purchased £200,000-worth of shares in the company – the same day the Government pledged to invest £440million to improve superfast broadband into 600,000 homes and businesses in the UK. Shares rose 1.6 per cent, or 0.12p to 7.75p.

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